Draft n Craft

Hello Start Ups : Contracts For An Organization Are Not Simply "Accessories" But "Necessaries"

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Draft n Craft Law Firm) — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 03:45:00 -0700

This is an era of startups and entrepreneurs. Our prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi also has promoted the idea of starting your own business instead of running after jobs. This has not only opened up new avenues of income but has also reduced the anxiety of getting a job.

The new gen entrepreneurs are creative and capable enough to inculcate their ideas into business entities, but real challenge emerges when they deal with the external environment. Only having a creative idea and having capability of starting a business, are not sufficient ingredients for establishing the business for long run. In today’s cutthroat competitive environment, also knowing threats to the business should be a priority of startups, which most of them miss out somehow. It’ll not be wrong to say that a large number of startups are either suffering major financial losses or have reached at the verge of shut down in their premature stage for simply not being aware of the upcoming complications and not having a strong support system in place beforehand to protect themselves from those complications.

Amongst many of the reasons “one” is completely ignoring the importance of signing of agreements, either the agreement has not been signed between the parties or the agreement has not been reviewed properly before signing. A small clause or sub clause or missing out a small clause or sub clause in the agreement can be a reason enough for a major setback. Needless to say that to avoid such possibilities the entrepreneurs need to have a legal team in place to support and protect the legal rights of their business, after all it takes numerous sleepless nights, tirelessly long working hours and lot of efforts to pull the business to a certain level.

Let’s accept the fact that regardless the size of your business, for nurturing it as an entrepreneur your focus must be on the core business activities and to deal with any unwelcome complication you must have your legal team in place beforehand. Practically also its not possible for an entrepreneur to know all laws or all legal remedies. Your legal team parallelly keeps an eye on and protects you from all possible external and internal business threats, and helps you minimize your losses.

To know what those areas and means are where your legal team extends its support and helps you, stay connected with us.

upcoming articles:

Hello Startups : How your legal team protects legal rights of your business and helps you minimize the probable losses.

Hello Startups : What’s your best brand strategy of today !

Hello Startups : Deal smartly with unknown threats

For personal enquiries/queries you may either DM us or may connect with us at connect@draftncraft.com

Author

Surabhi Rastogi (Advocate)

Associate Partner- Draft n Craft Law Firm

#contracts #agreement #startup #india #startupinindia #corporate #commercial #draftncraftlawfirm #draftncraft #dnc #indiancorporatelawfirm #corporatelawfirminindia #lawfirm #international

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Draft n Craft Law Firm) — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 03:19:00 -0800

INDIA TO BECOME A MANUFACTURING HUB FOR SEMI-CONDUCTORS INDUSTRY

The Covid-19 pandemic has spared none, being one of the deadliest in the 21^st Century. The pandemic has led to a steep fall in need of the goods and services all across the globe. Trades amongst many countries has been on a standstill for more than a year. However, China being one of the major exporter of goods and services across the globe has suffered a big jolt as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, many countries are shifting their manufacturing bases out of China, which has been a boon for countries such as India, as it has resulted in opening new doors for trade of various goods and services.

Semi-Conductor Industry which is considered to be one of the biggest industry across the world, has been one of the worst hit industries due to this pandemic. China accounts for manufacturing semi-conductor to the extent of 24% followed by Taiwan at 21%, South Korea at 19%. There has been a worldwide shortage in semi-conductors (chips) due to the pandemic. As we understand the Importance of semi-conductor in various industries electronics, auto-mobile, tele-communication etc, so most of these industries are struggling to keep with up the consumer demands amid acute shortage of chips throughout the world.

Keeping in view the global shortage and in furtherance of the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and positioning, India as the global hub for Electronic System Design and Manufacturing, the Indian Government has approved the comprehensive program for the development of sustainable semiconductor and display ecosystem in the Country. The program will usher in a new era in electronics manufacturing by providing a globally competitive incentive package to companies in semiconductors and display manufacturing as well as design. This shall pave the way for India’s technological leadership in these areas of strategic importance and economic self-reliance.

Semiconductors and displays are the foundation of modern electronics driving the next phase of digital transformation under Industry 4.0. Semiconductors and display manufacturing is very complex and technology-intensive sector involving huge capital investments, high risk, long gestation and payback periods, and rapid changes in technology, which require significant and sustained investments. The program will give an impetus to semiconductor and display manufacturing by facilitating capital support and technological collaborations.

The programme aims to provide attractive incentive support to companies/ consortia that are engaged in Silicon Semiconductor Fabs, Display Fabs, Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors (including MEMS) Fabs, Semiconductor Packaging (ATMP / OSAT), Semiconductor Design.

Following broad incentives have been approved for the development of semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystem in India:

Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs: The Scheme for Setting up of Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs in India shall extend fiscal support of up to 50% of project cost on pari-passu basis to applicants who are found eligible and have the technology as well as capacity to execute such highly capital intensive and resource incentive projects. Government of India will work closely with the State Governments establish High-Tech Clusters with requisite infrastructure in terms of land, semiconductor grade water, high quality power, logistics and research ecosystem to approve applications for setting up at least two greenfield Semiconductor Fabs and two Display Fabs in the country.

Semi-conductor Laboratory (SCL): Union Cabinet has also approved that Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will take requisite steps for modernization and commercialization of Semi-conductor Laboratory (SCL). MEIT will explore the possibility for the Joint Venture of SCL with a commercial fab partner to modernize the brownfield fab facility.

Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors (including MEMS) Fabs and Semiconductor ATMP / OSAT Units: The Scheme for Setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors (including MEMS) Fabs and Semiconductor ATMP / OSAT facilities in India shall extend fiscal support of 30% of capital expenditure to approved units. At least 15 such units of Compound Semiconductors and Semiconductor Packaging are expected to be established with Government support under this scheme.

Semiconductor Design Companies: The Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme shall extend product design linked incentive of up to 50% of eligible expenditure and product deployment linked incentive of 6% - 4% on net sales for five years. Support will be provided to 100 domestic companies of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design and facilitating the growth of not less than 20 such companies which can achieve turnover of more than Rs.1500 crore in the coming five years.

India Semiconductor Mission: In order to drive the long-term strategies for developing a sustainable semiconductors and display ecosystem, a specialized and independent “India Semiconductor Mission (ISM)” will be set up. The India Semiconductor Mission will be led by global experts in semiconductor and display industry. It will act as the nodal agency for efficient and smooth implementation of the schemes on Semiconductors and Display ecosystem.

India is already on footsteps to become a global manufacturing hub for semi-conductors industry with Vedanta leading the way, having already proposed a 3.5 billion dollars investment for setting up of a semi-conductor industry. The Indian Government expects heavy investments to start coming from next financial year in the country. India is geographically very well located on the world map which will give many companies access to its diverse resources and which will further help India become a global manufacturing hub. The pandemic has led to many companies as well as industries moing out from China as it is no longer considered ideal for business, with this India has an opportunity to become a global manufacturing hub for Semi-conductors.

Comprehensive Fiscal Support for Semiconductors and Electronics

With the approval of the programme for development of semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystem in India with an outlay of Rs.76,000 crore (>10 billion USD), Government of India has announced incentives for every part of supply chain including electronic components, sub-assemblies, and finished goods. Incentive support to the tune of Rs.55,392 crore (7.5 billion USD) have been approved under PLI for Larges Scale Electronics Manufacturing, PLI for IT Hardware, SPECS Scheme and Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme. In addition, PLI incentives to the quantum of Rs.98,000 crore (USD 13 billion) are approved for allied sectors comprising of ACC battery, auto components, telecom & networking products, solar PV modules and white goods. In total, Government of India has committed support of Rs. 2,30,000 crore (USD 30 billion) to position India as global hub for electronics manufacturing with semiconductors as the foundational building block.

In the current geopolitical scenario, trusted sources of semiconductors and displays hold strategic importance and are key to the security of critical information infrastructure. The approved program will propel innovation and build domestic capacities to ensure the digital sovereignty of India. It will also create highly skilled employment opportunities to harness the demographic dividend of the country.

Development of semiconductor and display ecosystem will have a multiplier effect across different sectors of the economy with deeper integration to the global value chain. The program will promote higher domestic value addition in electronics manufacturing and will contribute significantly to achieving a USD 1 Trillion digital economy and a USD 5 Trillion GDP by 2025.

Author(s)

Rakesh K. Sharma (Advocate)

Founding Partner- Draft n Craft Law Firm

Owner- Draft n Craft Legal Outsourcing Pvt. Ltd.

Rohit Taneja (Advocate)

Associate Partner- Draft n Craft Law Firm

#semiconductor #semiconductorindustry #semiconductormanufacturing #aatmanirbhar #bharat #aatmanirbharbharat #display #ecosystem #technology #capitalinvestment #investment #FDI #foreigndirectinvestment #india #incentivesforsemiconductor #entrepreneur #consultants #startups #gdp #export #draftncraftlawfirm #draftncraft #dnc #lawfirm #indian

Founder Partner Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma elected as CGC member, Legal Sector SEPC

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Draft n Craft Law Firm) — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 05:01:00 -0800

#draftncraft #draftncraftlawfirm #draftncraftlegalprocessoutsourcing #dnc #legal #lawfirm #lawyer #lawfirms #supremecourt #india #export #delhi #servicesexportpromotioncouncil #sepc

Another feather added to the hat of Draft n Craft.

Lately SERVICES EXPORT PROMOTION COUNCIL (SEPC) had undergone the election where Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, was elected as the CGC Member- Legal Sector SEPC.

SEPC is an Export Promotion Council set by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. It is an apex trade body which facilitates service exporters of India. As an advisory body it actively contributes to the formulation of policies of Government of India and acts as an interface between the Services Industry and the Government.

Mr. Sharma serves as a practicing lawyer at Supreme Court of India & High Court of Delhi. He is the Founding Partner of Draft and Craft Law Firm and the Founder of Draft n Craft Legal Outsourcing Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Sharma says “I can see legal sector of India growing exponentially in next two years so as to match any international legal arena.”

Draft n Craft Law Firm is a premier full-service corporate law firm headquartered in New Delhi, India. Our focus is on providing strategic solutions to clients through distinctive, holistic approach legal expertise based on decades of experience of our professionals.

Draft n Craft is a premier legal outsourcing firm which offers its legal and paralegal support solutions to law firms, corporate and in-house legal departments throughout the United States. We do not measure our success by comparison, but by our achievements. The strength and openness in our relationship help our clients to maximize the benefits of outsourcing. We provide customized solutions to each of our clients.

Draft n Craft Law Firm

www.draftncraft.com

Draft n Craft’s Support in Wage Discrimination Lawsuits

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 1 May 2016 11:48:00 -0700

Wage discrimination lawsuits are very common and frequently seen in the US legal system. Employers who do not pay overtime or appropriate minimum wages or deny rights of the workers actually violate state and federal laws such as the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA). They may not be necessarily violating the rights of one or two employees but for many of them. For violating labor laws like FLSA, a wage and hour lawsuit can be filed against the employer. Such a lawsuit can become a class action lawsuit if many such workers who have faced similar harm come together and sue the same employer for their rights.

Draft n Craft, one of the leading legal support companies based in New Delhi, India, has been continuously supporting the legal industry with a variety of its services that allow law firms to save a lot of time and money without compromising on the quality of the work.

Usually, deposition summaries, legal research and writing of different legal documents are frequently used during the different stages of the case. But time and again there are a plethora of different documents which need to be organized and prepared in way that they are presentable and serve their purpose. For instance, one of the clients of Draft n Craft, an employment law firm dealing majorly in class action litigation cases, sent a huge set of documents to be used to determine the overtime owed by the employers to the employees. The team at Draft n Craft was provided with the pay slips along with the hours worked [time cards] of each employee. Based on the rate of pay and the details provided, the team at Draft n Craft quickly put together a spreadsheet to evaluate the actual overtime owed by the employer versus the amount already paid by the employer to the employee. This helped the law firm to move forward on the case at a faster pace and get the desired results.

Serving more than 200 clients in the US, Draft n Craft is one of the most promising legal outsourcing company based in New Delhi, India. The company offers variety of legal, paralegal and administrative/secretarial support to law firms, in house legal departments and other legal vendors. The services offered by the company not only save time and money but also help improving attorney-paralegal ratio of law firms. For more details about the company and its services, visit www.draftncraft.com or send an email to connect@draftncraft.com

Changing Roles and Increasing Importance of Legal Support Staff

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 1 Apr 2016 11:40:00 -0700

Paralegals, legal assistants and legal secretaries are collectively known as legal support staff in law firms. They work very closely despite of having different roles and job responsibilities. Majority of the tasks performed by paralegals and legal assistants are billed to the clients by law firms whereas legal secretaries perform secretarial tasks which are not billable. In past, technological advancement has greatly affected the roles of legal support staff in law firms. Work efficiencies are improved which made law firms reduce the support staff. They shifted their focus to improve the attorney-paralegal/assistant ratio. Remaining support staff who used to assist one or two attorneys before, started assisting more and secretaries were involved in billable tasks thus improving the overall attorney-support staff ratio of the firm.

These support staff work directly with attorneys on a given case. They know ins and outs of the case. Attorneys look up to them for any case related update before client meetings. Still they perform number of tasks which can be managed by or outsourced to a specialized legal support company. Many of the law firms are working with companies like Draft n Craft which provide variety of legal support services to law firms. Now support staff do not get involved in researching and finding cases on Westlaw andLexisNexis, preparing case summaries, indexing thousands of discovery documents, preparing spreadsheets, summarizing depositions and drafting of various legal documents. They just coordinate with the legal team of Draft n Craft and supervise their work. This arrangement allows them to free up their time and focus on more substantive tasks. At the same time law firms enjoy a great deal of cost savings and improved overall efficiency that bring more satisfaction for clients.

Established in 2008, Draft n Craft has been in existence for more than 8 years and earned a reputation of being a quality provider of legal support to US law firms, In house legal departments and other legal vendors. Not only this, but the company keeps on spreading awareness about legal outsourcing and its benefits by organizing legal conferences and seminars at regular intervals.

For more information about services, turnaround time and rates, visit www.draftncraft.com or send an email at connect@draftncraft.com

How Important Is Legal Research in Your Practice?

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 10:09:00 -0700

Legal Research can be a complex and time-consuming process for attorneys and paralegals. A small negligence can cause major damage to the firm as the outcome of the research leads to legal decision making. The fundamental step in research is to find the appropriate cases governing the issues in question but the ability to analyze what is found and reach a conclusion based on it is also equally important. Usually legal research is known to take much time and effort, and access to online legal research databases such as LexisNexis and Westlaw can be costly. Consequently, law firms and other attorneys turn to companies like Draft n Craft to outsource their legal research needs.

Usually legal research is known to take much time and effort, and access to online legal research databases such as LexisNexis and Westlaw can be costly. Consequently, law firms and other attorneys turn to companies like Draft n Craft to outsource their legal research needs.

We, at Draft n Craft have a team of immensely talented attorneys who are trained on the U.S. judicial systems. Our dynamic team of attorneys and paralegals come from various backgrounds and share their rich experience in carrying effective legal research for our clients. They efficiently sift through data using the different research tools available with us likeLexisNexis. Following are some of the key highlights of our legal research service.

Proficient, precise, and comprehensive legal research for each of the different U.S. jurisdictions
IRAC (Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion) Memo with legal analysis of issues presented by the client’s set of facts
Annotated summary of Shephardized cases relevant to the client’s issue(s)
Conclusion advocating the clients’ legal position
Available instantly on demand, predictable and fully reviewable
Quick turnaround time

If you are interested in using our legal research service or have any query, please send us an email at connect@draftncraft.com . One of our experts will get back to you to understand and discuss your requirements.

Depositions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 30

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 1 Jan 2016 10:06:00 -0800

A deposition is an out of court oral testimony of a witness under oath. Such recorded testimony by a witness is later reduced to writing for use in the court or for the purposes of discovery. Depositions are governed under Rule 30 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP).

The purpose of a deposition is dual. Firstly, it enables one to extract information which a witness knows and secondly, to preserve such witness testimony.

An individual deponent (or witness) receives a notice or subpoena to appear at the deposition to answer questions about any personal knowledge related to the case. They are often asked to bring documents with them to the deposition. Depositions enable a party to know in advance what a witness will say at the trial. Depositions can also be taken to obtain the testimony of important witnesses who cannot appear during the trial. In that case, they are read into evidence at the trial. Often a witness’s deposition will be taken by the opposing side and used to discredit the witness's testimony at trial if the trial testimony varies from the testimony taken during the deposition. The entire deposition is preserved word-for-word by a court reporter, who is present throughout the session. A transcript is produced at a later time.

Under FRCP 30(d)(1) and its state counterparts, a deposition normally must take place for no longer than seven hours a day for each deponent, unless otherwise stipulated by the parties or ordered by the court. This means that the deposing party who knows that a deposition will go longer than one day must either ask the deponent to stipulate to more time or if the deponent is uncooperative, go before the court and file a motion for a longer deposition.

Be it a personal injury matter or a medical malpractice case, deposition is an essential tool for discovery because it brings out many hidden facts on the front and helps attorneys to reach out to the basic issues of the case. It is a stage which brings an opportunity to both parties to see the case from something more than mere typewritten papers. A properly recorded deposition goes a long way in bringing the case to the winning decision on behalf of a client. When depositions run into 100s and 1000s of pages and a case requires many witnesses to be deposed, it becomes very difficult to keep track of all of them. Instead of getting yourself involved in number of pages and preparing your notes out of that, a much preferred choice would be to summarize the deposition. A deposition summary is a written synopsis of a deposition that condenses the question and answers to a succinctly written, explicable format.

Deposition summaries have consistently been outsourced to third-parties that deal in deposition summarization. While the business model for outsourcing deposition summaries is established, the ethical guidelines for such outsourcing have only recently been elaborated. Outsourcing legal services, including deposition summaries, has been approved by the American Bar Association (ABA), state and local bar associations and the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA). The NCRA has further held that while a court reporter may not summarize a deposition transcript, there is no restriction for a court reporting company to partner with a deposition summary provider. That is stated in Advisory Opinion 32 of the NCRA (1997). Advisory Opinion 32 of the NCRA (1997) deals only with the type of summary whereby the neutral, unbiased reporter and keeper of the record prepares an "objective" summarization of a deposition which he or she personally reported. The word "summary" implies abbreviated version or an abstract of what took place.

The purpose of a deposition summary is to accurately, objectively, and concisely summarize a deponent’s testimony into a useful reference document for a reviewing party. The deposition summary provides an outline of the deposition, enabling a reviewing party to quickly gain a general understanding of the deposition. The deposition summary should include only relevant information extracted from the deposition. The deposition summary is not intended to replace a full reading of the deposition transcript.

It is used for the following purposes:

Describes a deposition for insurance adjuster or client
Refreshes witness’s recollection before the trial or hearing
Helps prepare for other depositions in the same case
Aids in preparation for additional discovery
Assist lawyers not in attendance at deposition
Enables lawyers to better prepare evidence and motions
Serves as a trial preparation aid
Summarizes testimony for jurors at the trial

About Draft n Craft

Draft n Craft offers high quality and cost effective Deposition Summary services. Our work is known for accuracy, reliability and comprehensiveness. We offer an excellent, efficient and reliable team that is a less costly alternative to preparing the summaries in-house. We carefully reduce testimony to facts; accurately record dates, figures, names, and exhibits; give a record of key events and actions; eliminate extraneous information; and organize subject matter into coherent paragraphs. We summarize depositions in all types of civil cases, ranging from medical malpractice, personal injury and construction to employment, insurance, and intellectual property. Our attorneys, along with expertise in litigation have a good command over English writing skills so as to produce well analyzed and well-articulated summarized deposition transcripts. Our team is trained to provide the Deposition Summary services in various formats suiting the requirements of our clients.

Team Draft n Craft Wishes you all a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 06:17:00 -0800

SEVEN TRICKS OF HASSLE FREE INVESTMENTS

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Draft n Craft Law Firm) — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 04:09:00 -0800

Someone has rightly said “playing with money helps to grow”. This saying has actually encouraged people to invest in different ventures. The stumbling block in investment had been the risks associated with it. The volume of investments made globally in the last four years has been more than $2.27Bn till 31st March 2015 but it could have easily been twenty times of this amount. If one wants to avoid hassles in making such investments, they should follow the seven star formula of investing:

KNOW YOUR INVESTMENT SEEKER: The first cardinal rule of making an investment is to know the organization looking for investment and the people behind it. The structure and brain of an organization is the first guiding principal for making an investment. No one is likely to use the hit and trial method while investing, rather an investor would be prompted by the spirits behind the organization. An encouraging factor is to identify and understand the brain behind the seeker, their entrepreneurship and the ability to grow.
CONNECTING WITH YOUR INVESTMENT SEEKER: Once a general understanding about an investment has been achieved then the next goal should be to develop a connection with the seeker. After the exchange of general mails, meetings should be scheduled - telephonic or personal. A regular touch before making an investment is a must, as this would assist in getting first hand information whereby the seeker would share his project and other details. The connectivity between the investor and seeker has to be pre-established before entering into a relationship.
EVALUATING THE PROJECT/INVESTMENT SEEKER: Every startup or the innovator considers one’s project as enterprising & very profitable but that requires a strong evaluation from the perspective of an investor. An investor needs to know the worth of the project viz. popularity, technical feasibility, business growth, local or global. Similarly, an overall review of the people behind the project needs to be made which means identifying their knowledge, background as well as financial background. In case of a seeker involved in a previous project which failed, extra caution needs to be taken. On the other hand, a successful seeker would attract more and sound investors. The risk gets minimized once a decision is taken after having concluded due diligence on the project as well as on the investment seeker.
DEFINING YOUR GOAL: Every investor needs to know the goal one aims by such investment. It may not always be necessary and important to see growth in revenue; rather it may be the fame & reputation of being part of a very successful project. Similarly, at other times one may not look out for immediate returns but returns over the passage of time. Once a goal has been determined then milestones need to be fixed. The goal should be understood as a period and gain of investment and not merely return of the investment.
LEGALIZING THE RELATIONSHIP: No relation co-exists for long time unless supported by a well reasoned legalized document. Investors and seekers relation does not stand long where it is based upon oral understanding or weak documents. Gone are the days when documents were created just for the sake of remembrance, today the documents are created to strengthen the relationship between people/organization. A well defined and understood agreement not only encourages people to work together but equally discourages them to fall prey of unnecessary risks. Every investor must start their relationship with the seeker depending upon documents like Letter of Intent (LOI), Founders Agreement, Confidentiality Agreement, Mutual Non-disclosure agreement, Term sheets, Shareholders agreement etc.
UNDERSTANDING THE FLOW OF RELATIONSHIP: As an investor one would need to know what information and at what level the same would be shared by the seeker to the investor. The expectation as well as the obligation between the investor and seeker needs to be defined with clear understanding for mutual benefits. The flow of relationship has to both ways and not merely one way. A standard of charter or report can be defined to encourage transparency which would strongly glue them together. The compatibility between two increases with defined flow of relationship and ideally reduces the fears of an investor and helps in the strong growth of relationship.
TAKING CALL TO QUIT FROM THE PROJECT: A nomadic journey never lands a person anywhere, rather a defined strategy to achieve a destination has more probability of being successful. Once a goal has been setup then one should be clear to take calls on the exit or review the goal. In certain cases investors prefer periodic exit from the project rather than the same being dependent on financial gains. One needs to take call on the exit from a project rather than repent at the end, especially when the project does not look to be going. The investor will have a clear understanding as to their achievement in case they are open for review and exit from the project instead of bound with time limitation.

INVESTMENT IN INNOVATION – A GIVING OR MISGIVING

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Draft n Craft Law Firm) — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 03:40:00 -0800

Investment is like soil which requires care and nutrients to help plants to grow. Sometimes it acts as a soft bed and on other occasions it works as a catalyst. In financial terms, investment means financial input along with other support directly connected with the growth of a company. It is well said “demand and supply determine the economic growth”. This fact exactly explains the flow of investments in innovation industry. An innovation can be described as something new which is majorly useful but did not exist till sometime back. An innovation may happen in any sector or industry viz. IT, FMCG, Education, Automobiles, Communication.

Investment in an industry may depend upon different factors which can be grouped as:

PROSPECT OF GROWTH: The probability of an investment is directly proportional to the profitability of an innovation. An innovation having an early success is always likely to attract huge investments. In the recent past, we have seen that companies that have come up with new and innovative concepts like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Uber, OLX, Quikr, Paytm, have attracted huge investments. Investors are always attracted to invest in innovations where short term gains can be seen. Not only that, investments can also be seen in industries such as fashion, IT and Real Estate. The concept of investment remains the same - whosoever invests money, looks for growth. An investor takes a call on the period of investment which in turn determines the expected returns. Largely, one can say ‘Investments In Innovations’ go hand in hand but at the same time the investment are equally made in other running industries. Investments were made in more than 662 start ups in the first nine months of 2015 i.e. till September 2015 which means - 2.42 deals a day.

QUANTUM OF FUNDS: The requirement of fund determines the level of investor willing to enter into an investment. It has been a common practice that an investor makes an investment in different scales depending upon the requirement of the start up. Sometimes a big investor invests in startups with low investment and then takes up further investment to scale its growth. In countries like India, startups have boomed and attracted huge investments. In the first half of 2015, startups gained investments of more than $3.5 billon. As per the number of investors in the total deals are concerned, nearly half of the deals of startup investments were for less than $20,000. A big volume of private equity has been invested in such deals. Apparently, startups looking for smaller funds attract more investors rather than startups aiming for big funds.

LOCATION: The location of a startup plays a pivotal role in attracting investments. This further determines the growth and the relationship between the two. Remotely located startups grow only if they are attached to a particular sector like agriculture, else they struggle hard to seek funds. The growth of startups has apparently been more in metropolitan cities.

RISK: The fear of losing investment is balanced by the allurement to multiply the investments. Investors look out for a balance between the two. Investment is indirectly proportional to risk and directly proportional to allurement. No one invests in projects where risk of losing investment is higher. Therefore, investors prefer to draw a line where risk can be evaluated for them to take decision about investment. The chances of investments being at peril have risen due to the way startups are mushrooming. With such an increase in the number of startups, an optimum level is likely to be reached. Investors have to become more cautious.

ACCESSIBILITY: Startups have boomed in countries like India at places like Indian Silicon Valley i.e. Bengaluru and at the best in big metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai. Investors are equally available in other areas where the startup projects are coming up. In all events, the close interaction between investors and startups is always preferred. The more accessible a startup is to the investor, the more viability of investments and the higher chances of growth.

FASCINATION: An unexpected increase is happening where every entrepreneur is contemplating or has contemplated to get into startup venture. Similarly, every investor is aiming at one or the other startup to multiply the investments. The boom of new ventures with upcoming projects like e-commerce, health, delivering consumer services/goods, has magnificently shown a rosy picture to the investors which seems like a fascination. On the other end the lackadaisical of investment opportunities in real estate, yellow metal and share market has further widened the scope of investments in startups.

“ATTORNEYS: TAKE YOUR TIME BUT SAY ‘YES’ TO SOCIAL MEDIA”

Wed, 4 Jun 2014 11:32:00 -0700

By the time I am writing this, it’s my 90th day, 12th hour, 46th minute and 17th second of my business trip to USA. This is my first trip and I almost travelled and landed over most of the known States/Cities – Florida, Atlanta, California, Las Vegas, Houston, New York, New Jersey...

It is an exciting and a fruitful trip where I am able to meet people from across the world not only the attorneys and counsels but many businessmen, storekeepers, cab-drivers, sheriffs, and the list goes on. One thing that amazes everyone here in the USA is the overall customer service one gets. I am too excited about the fact that I got many opportunities to meet the legal industry experts with whom, beside work, I could talk and gain knowledge about the real legal industry. As my profile talks about business development and marketing – “Yes, I may be one of them who had called or sent messages to you”, I am glad all my face to face interactions gave me a sense that senior attorneys and counsels were ready to hear my part of story as well. I may not know much about legal marketing and various social media tools and activities but whatever little I know they paid attention to and I am pleased that some of them implemented it by taking time out of their busy schedules and creating their profiles on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and some are giving a deep thought that how and when they should start working on this.

Why Social Media?

I know legal professionals still love the black and white features and show more trust on the paper work and word of mouth marketing but trust me social media will make it more powerful and will increase your reach from a community to society, city, state and to the whole world. We are living in a world where we have an amazing amount of information which we can gather and share at the cost of few clicks. The varied options - print, visual, and multimedia give us a chance to explore the diverse social and psychological behavior of people in most interactive and personal ways. This is an era where even computer systems are finding it difficult to make a place in our offices/homes. Everyone, now a day, talking about I-Pads, I-Phones, and Android systems. So why to question the credentials of Social Media…? No doubt it increases your reach, allows you to communicate better and is most prominent, quick and easy method to share information. So what are you waiting for?? Go for it!!

LinkedIn:

I believe by now you must have made your profile on LinkedIn, and if not you should do that. It’s a professional networking website which not only gives you a chance to network with like minded professionals but also allows you to know the latest trends in the industry/area of your interest. When it comes to the legal industry, it is one of the best and the most popular tools used by the legal professionals worldwide.

Connect with hundred, thousands of like minded professionals, share and gain insight from their life experience, knowledge.
Make your company’s profile there and post updates under your company’s name.
Create a LinkedIn group where you can invite your connections and other members in the community to join. This allows you to run your small networking/informative group by sharing your blogs, webinar, podcast, post and current updates of your business.

LinkedIn reports more than 277 million acquired users in more than 200 countries & territories and is getting paced among the legal professionals too.

Facebook & Twitter:
Facebook and Twitter not only makes you aware of people prospects and views but also help you to socially know your partners, clients and competitors. You are one post away to get likes, comments, re-tweets and get noticed from millions and billions. These platforms allow you to share your content to your connects, their connects and this chain goes on. Facebook also gives an option to promote your company page amongst your prospects.

For Facebook & Facebook Page:

Market your legal services by using blogs, real case studies, law association or government legal updates.
You can even run a contest for your prospects/clients and get ‘LIKE’. Example: Join our contest and get free legal consultancy.
Look for paid promotions, make groups, and engage your followers and keep interacting with them through your posts/comments.

For Twitter:

While using Twitter use Hashtags (#). Example: #Attorney, #PersonalInjury to make your content appears to relevant readers.
Interact and share information with people using their handles (@abc) – Be ethical and try not to be seen as a “Spammer”.
You can create a contest monthly, quarterly on Twitter to attract followers.
How can you forget the #FF (Follow Friday) messages? Use this to appreciate your audience for their involvement and say thank you.

Google+:

I am sure in our lives there is one moment when we don’t ask questions from GOD. We get all our answers from “GOOGLE” (Just Google it down). Now, create yours and your company’s profile and use this platform to market yourself. Like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn you can share your posts, write blogs, connect with others and do your own SEO (Search Engine Optimization) at your level.

Make your Google+ profile, your Google+ company page.
Share updates, news, blogs.
Connect with people, join groups, and associations.

You all will be happy to know there are other such social media platforms which can schedule your 100’s of posts, updates, and tweets in advance and can launch multiple campaigns at one time, few of such websites are – Buffer, Scoop it, HootSuite, etc. Though there are multiple other tools which can be beneficial for today’s legal professionals for marketing and networking, I believe, if one gets active on the above mentioned platforms, in addition to the physical interactions, the very purpose of marketing and branding oneself and one’s organization will get fulfilled.

Summarizing a Deposition - Skills & Tools

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Rakesh K. Sharma) — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 23:59:00 -0700

Someone has rightly said, “Deposition is the core part of litigation”. An attorney heavily relies upon the testimony of the witnesses in order to prove the claim of the client and to demolish the claim of the opponent. The purpose of the testimony is to yield the truth. It helps in bringing out the actual veracity from the witnesses. The fate of the trial to a greater extent depends upon the depositions. Testimony is a technique to tacitly elucidate the correct version from a witness. Attorneys put across the questions to the witness so as to bring them to their desired statement in very scattered manners. This makes the deposition a lengthy affair.

As the depositions go to the root of the trial, it entails the demarcation of relevant part out of the deposition which further requires to be summarized. The correct summarization of deposition depends upon two vital factors:

Legal acumen
Ability to summarize

Each trial has its peculiar set of facts which mandate its course of trial. The testimony is expected to revolve around the issues involved in it. In absence of a legal acumen, the vital points of testimony are at risk of being missed. The selection of relevant text out of the deposition can be done only by a qualified attorney. Anyone other than an attorney / paralegal would be unable to actually understand and identify the required portion in the testimony to support the defense or otherwise. So the role of a person with legal acumen becomes vital in highlighting the selected portion. The legal acumen in summarization deposition requires the following skills:

Ability to identify the key points involved in the testimony in hand.
Skill to comprehend the legal issues lightly to be supported or demolished by the witness.
Selection of the key points including the supported / non-supported version by the witness.

Summarization produces a comprehensive and organized portion of testimony. It requires the real understanding of the highlighted portions by joining them with relevant connectors or other words. Good comprehension along with grammatical and analytical skills plays a vital role in conveying the same sense but in a more concise and articulate manner.

“Everything must have a beginning”

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anuj Bansal) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 05:22:00 -0800

Profits of the firms are going down whereas expenses are increasing with every passing day. Clients are becoming more demanding and the competition is getting intense like never before.

This has been a common scenario in the UK legal industry and it’s making it tough for the law firms especially small and mid size firms. There has been uncertainty, turmoil and a lot of speculations about the best way out under current circumstances.

Whenever there are talks about increasing profits, reducing inefficiencies and creating value for the clients, outsourcing is bound to draw a lot of attention towards it. All of a sudden, you’ll see reports coming out in number talking about outsourcing, forecasting its future, talking about its pitfalls etc.

You just cannot ignore the never ending debate on the issues like ethics, confidentiality, loss of control, patriotism and so on. But amidst all this, it’s the firms or organisations that are suffering as they are unable to decide whether they should go for it wholeheartedly.

Despite of so many examples of successful outsourcing, they always remain in doubt and even though they feel that this could be a way out for them, they remain cautious about it.

If you’re one of those firms or practises that want to consider outsourcing but are not able to decide, don’t just wait, call us for a free consultation with your queries, we’ll be happy to work this out for you.

Let’s work this out!!!

LPO: Serving the Clients Needs

Sat, 6 Oct 2012 08:26:00 -0700

The practice of law is changing at an exponential pace and clients no longer accept automatic increases in billing rates and escalating costs without questioning. To retain existing clients and gain new ones, firms need to offer unique cost saving alternatives. One such alternative is to have best in quality, more routine legal work performed by fully licensed Indian lawyers charging few dollars per hour, in contrast to the hundreds of dollars typically charged by law firms for their associates and paralegals. Because the Indian lawyers are working in a time zone almost 12 hours away, USA’s “down time” is India’s “up time” and the work essentially continues around the clock. As a result, clients often get real results the next working day. The most commonly offered services have been document review, legal research and writing, legal transcription, drafting of pleadings and briefs and patent services.

Legal outsourcing allows both a law firm and a corporate in- house legal department to have their respective staffs focus on the core value work for which intimate knowledge of the client, its business, and the nuances of the legal specialty are required. Outsourcing not only better serves the needs of the client, but it also makes the practice of law more interesting. The legal process outsourcing in India has been growing at a faster pace and with higher growth rate and has been in a great progression during these many years. According to one of the latest surveys, at present, there are more than 15,000 professionals employed in various LPOs across India.

The growth rate of the LPO industry in India is quite faster in comparison to the other countries. Now, everyone at the management level is looking to invest significantly in the systems, security and process to ensure the most important aspect of running this business which is - Data Security and Confidentiality. Providing business confidentiality is the key consideration of any outsourcing firm’s security measures to build a strong and trustworthy relationship with the clients. The LPOs which had started with 4-10 professionals a year back have now grown to a large strength of 400. LPO industry is also passing through the same phase as like the BPOs which had multiplied significantly in the recent past. The future of LPO can be visualized with the glance on the following facts:

Jobs in the field are likely to increase to 79,000 by 2015. (Source Forrester incorporation).
“LPO service providers in India likely to generate revenue of US dollar 960 million 2015-2016 (Source Evalueserve).”
“A USA based technology and Market Research Company indicates the current value of legal outsourcing is $80m (£40m) [about 3% of the estimated market] (Source Forrester incorporation).”
“A US based technology and Market Research Company indicates the current value of legal outsourcing is $60 m more than (£30 m) in India alone (Source Forrester incorporation).”

In light of Draft n Craft’s history of managing legal data for law firms and corporations, we are very sensitive to the issues of data security and client confidentiality, regardless of the actual content of that data. Draft n Craft treats client data with careful regard for the client’s confidentiality needs and concerns. The company has implemented comprehensive security measures to ensure that client data is not accessed by unauthorized personnel, and that data which is accessed is only utilized to the extent permitted by the scope of our undertaking with the client. Contact Us

Do you really know what’s hurting your practice

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anuj Bansal) — Mon, 1 Oct 2012 03:51:00 -0700

If you’re among the 100’s of law practices who want to outsource in order to control their legal expenses but are not able to figure-out what to outsource, here’s a tip that might be of help to you.

This is exactly where law firms need to work upon if they want to use outsourcing to the best of their advantage. Some tips that can help you identify what can be outsourced are:

Differentiate between core and non-core activities.
Try and find out the processes which are less productive, monotonous in nature.
Evaluate the opportunity cost of your time spent on each process.
Evaluate the number of man hours spent on each process.
Set the objectives that you need to achieve from outsourcing.
Consult with vendor for any suggestions from his side.
Select the process which you need to outsource.

I’m sure you’ll agree that any firm considering outsourcing is actually willing to accept and implement change in its procedures, service delivery or any other functional area to be able to survive in this competitive environment.

The process of change starts from identifying what is the function that actually needs to be changed followed by the rest. No matter how well the objective or the end result of the change is being defined but unless you know what is it that you need to work upon, pitfalls are inevitable.

At last, I just want to say it’s high time that the firms start considering re-structuring or innovative ways to steer themselves out of the hardship that they are into at present.

“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

The Steeple Chase Race for Law Firms

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anjali Pahwa) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:41:00 -0700

We have been talking about the ABS and its effects on to the legal industry at large for some time now. However, the actual race full of obstacles which the law firms today need to run at is less talked about. What to do, how to do and when to do is the top thought of the day.

The most affected from this are the private client practice law firms. This means that law firms dealing with wills & estates, conveyancing, immigration, Family laws etc get to feel the brunt of this maximum.

We need to understand the ABS has three sides – the good, bad and the ugly.

The Good – The Law Society of England & Wales has always been in favor of promoting open market, choice and competition in the legal market and the alternative business structure just makes that more stronger as the ABS comes as one of the most suited models for the future legal services market. Let’s also acknowledge the fact that the budding lawyers will have more choices in terms of their careers.

The Bad – the ownership of legal services, which was so far restricted to lawyers, has now changed and now it’s open to one and all.

The Ugly – the law firms which were anyways surviving the ever existing competition successfully are managing their ways out with this radical change and will continue to do so. It is the smaller and mid size firms who are feeling the impact of this change. While one cannot replace a solicitor’s advice to that off a non-solicitor, the commoditised legal services like conveyancing, wills & estates etc can be easily and are being taken over by the new Tesco’s and ASDAs in town.

The downside of ABSs creating new opportunities in to the market in terms of jobs is that non lawyers will also enjoy the same or similar benefits as a lawyer in some cases.

The Management of a law firms now needs to be on their toes to do some effective business planning. Solicitors need to wear many hats at the same time in order to beat this change. In no way can we say that the traditional ways of practice are bad but we surely need to make modifications in the ways of practice looking in to the changing trends. It is very truly said, that "If you are not riding the waves of change – you’ll find yourself beneath them."

Legal Transcription – undiscovered challenges

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:25:00 -0700

A service like legal transcription (legal typing) attracts the skills attached within. I wonder sometimes on how technology has helped us with quick solutions to remain competitive in this economic era. Gone are the days when secretaries used to take down dictations in shorthand and then type them out. It has now become easier to just talk in to your smartphones or Dictaphones and dictate your notes, letters, and memo etc. and have that typed out by a secretary. But what happens in the case when you are taking a walk after your dinner; outside your house and you remember an urgent letter to be sent out first thing in the morning, what do you do in such a case? There is no option of calling the secretary, and the last resort is to get it typed by you. Another, easiest answer here would be that you dictate the letter over your phone and send it to a vendor who is 4.5 hours to 11 hours ahead your time zone and get it typed at ease. At least you can have a peaceful sleep at night and next morning before you reach your office, the letter would already be waiting for you in your mailbox.

Not only this, we must not deny the benefits attached to this service. Time taken to type number of pages can be best utilized in other core areas. With the advancement of technology, recorded dictation can be securely uploaded to the vendor’s website and the typed version can easily be received in your mailbox. The other option available is to upload the dictations on a platform which is a direct connection between the client and vendor such as working on FTP or client server. Vendors can give 4 to 24 hr TAT(turnaround time) which means at some urgent instances, even if you send any assignment by the end of your day, you can still receive it even before the beginning of next day.

There are still some undiscovered challenges lawyers feel whenever they think of getting their work done from someone who is out of sight. But I sincerely need to be convinced on the reasons given by them. I could summarize them as below:

Your company is unable to provide reference (Even though it is a valid question but a genuine reason of not showing the name of the client is signing of NDA with the existing client. The question of quality can be judged once a trial is sent to vendors).

Next possible apprehension can be that, you are a small company and it is tough to build trust in you. (No one is big in the beginning. You have to take that first step in order to climb the ladder of success and be amongst the top. But without getting a chance to show your skills, you cannot move even a single step ahead. The initial trust is must).

One of the prominent question which is a very vital concern for all is how their data will be secured.( Initial trust and maintaining supreme confidentiality are two of the chief pillars on which all the vendors endeavor to build on their clientele. Signing of the customer confidentiality agreement is another example of ensuring that vendor is making itself liable in case of any leakage of client’s information).

Are all above factors not enough to reach up to a level where one would be ready to try these untested waters and get ready to plunge in the ocean of New World? I strongly believe that anything which is a helping hand on the path of success must be taken into consideration.

Draft n Craft

Draft n Craft has developed a dedicated department for this herculean task and to meet the deadlines set by clients. Our transcription wing consists of personnel coming from the width and length of the nation. This is the only part of the office which works around the clock 365 days a year. Draft n Craft provides legal transcription services to law firms, solicitors and other legal organizations worldwide. Our experienced legal transcriptionists and quality analysts provide accurate and high quality support to ensure you can concentrate on core legal issues of your firm.

Does a lawyer need to be a manager also?

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Mohammad Danish, Business Development - Draft n Craft) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:29:00 -0700

As soon as I hear the word ‘Lawyer’ an image of a gentleman in black coat with his briefcase or files in hand comes to my mind. In earlier days, when there was no trend of law firms, lawyers used to practice on their own. They were the experts in some areas of law and used to advise their clients on legal issues, represent them in courts and update themselves about the changes in the law like a doctor updates himself about the new medicines and medical researches. The United States established the model of law firms in the sense of a business entity consisting of more than one lawyer. The first law firm with two or more lawyers had come into view just before the American Civil War and this practice had given birth to a manager inside a lawyer.

Lawyer always have a vital role to play in every management be it a law firm or corporation or any other organization. Leading fortune 500 companies have lawyers in their management teams who give their inputs in laying down the strategies. They advise company’s board of directors on their responsibilities in an effort to keep the best interests of the company and shareholders at the forefront. On the other hand, when it comes to law firms, managing partners play an important role in the management. They are leading the business of law firms where hundreds of people are working. They set the example for other leaders at different levels within the firm and always keep an eye on the functioning of all the departments.

Management is required in every business and law firms being business entities are not the exceptions. Unlike lawyer, a manager’s role in a law firm is more defined and focused. When a lawyer is in the management team he does multi tasking and performs roles of a lawyer as well as of a manager whereas an office manager does not have to do the work which a lawyer is supposed to do. Irrespective of the firm size, managers have to deal with three major categories of administration i) personnel; ii) financial; and facilities. Though delegation of authority differs with the size of the firm. Usually lawyers are skeptical of non lawyers trying to tell them how to do their work and non lawyer managers often do not get that respect what a lawyer manager may receive from his colleague in the firm. This also raises a need of lawyers to become managers for the better coordination among the employees.

About Draft n Craft

Established in 2008, Draft n Craft is a cut to the chase Legal Process Outsourcing Company with strong and dedicated work force of professionals. Having established a brilliant track record, Draft n Craft has been partners of growth to many of the law firms and corporations in the UK and US. Draft n Craft’s supreme focus has always been on helping lawyers deliver the best value to their clients by working on process and technology optimization, and by devising ways to rationalize client’s operational spending.

Curious Case of Lawyering…

Thu, 6 Sep 2012 09:02:00 -0700

It’s a common nature of human which allows them to look for possibilities and opportunities to succeed in life. Every day people come up with new ideas and new approaches to implement in their day-to-day working and aim to accomplish their dreams. Lawyers too are not untouched with this very thought even though they may be doing quite good in their profession. Sitting back and giving a quick thought on what really made them choose the legal profession and how they want or wanted to see themselves after five or ten years, I think is a good way to start. Now a day, the legal industry is coming up with new practice areas and many other managerial levels and consulting opportunities. We can see the cases where solo practitioners are wearing the shoes of entrepreneurs and establishing their own boutique law firms and giving tough times to the established law firms. It is vital for lawyers to know ‘What’, ‘Why’, ‘How’, they want to achieve the best, with all other crucial issues they face in their day-to-day life.

“A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a thousand men with guns.” – Mario Puzo

Why should they look for options to improve their working style?

What is in store for them if they do?

I am sure most of my lawyer friends who are reading this blog will agree that ‘WHY’ indeed needs to be addressed before any other questions. As lawyers today want to explore about their value added assets with the skills of good lawyering and have vast knowledge and experience. When every now and than a new regulation and updated technology is coming into existence. Lawyers too are eager to update themselves and walk effortlessly with the new age of lawyering. Now, with a new thinking and approach lawyers are changing their working style accordingly and using the modern age tools to perform their best. Things have changed from desktop to palmtop, basic phone to smart phones, human efforts to the use of internet and different software, local media to social media, physical office to virtual office and many more. But questions which arise here are:

Lawyers are now looking for every possible option and using every bit of information and support to do best for better “Client Satisfaction” and gain their client’s trust and maintain a healthy working relation with them. Every possible change and improvement a lawyer is implementing is towards bringing a smile to the faces of his/her clients and keeping their trust alive, protect the non guilty, and uphold the country and state law.

This look good, now the next step ‘HOW’. Let me tell you a small incident:

I was astonished to see a group of kids all dressed and equipped in sport gears all set to enter in a ground and kick the football as hard as they could. I was amazed, not because it was something unusual but it was rare to see a group of children, (ten to twelve years) cheering and walking on the lane with enthusiasm. Each one was talking about performing their best and to beat their opponent by large margins. I could not resist myself and went to give them my best wishes. One of the players excitedly informed me that they are going to play against junior high school boys and they are confident that they will win this game. As they have monitored every action of their opponent closely and have done hard work to plan a right strategy to face any difficult situation. With their optimistic approach, well planned strategies and key points, I was convinced that they will win the match. I wondered how easy and important is to learn from our day to day life and how much one can learn from these small kids. My mind got blocked between two words ‘organized vs unorganized’, optimist vs pessimist, ‘performing vs result’, ‘creeping vs to face’. In today’s competitive work culture whenever we think of performance we always seek to get the best results. But sometimes forget to plan or actually work on the task flow and end up losing our hope and vision to accomplish an easy looking task. So, to bring out our best, one should proceed with the right mind set, deep and regular research and planned analytical approach. This will help to plan ‘How’ effectively.

Whether a lawyer is representing a case/hearing or providing consultancy and/or doing a marketing activity to promote his/her practice area or firm, he wants to create opportunities to serve the society and live a better life. The days are gone when lawyering was only about representing the clients, providing consultation and winning cases for them and when lawyer were working as per the word of mouth strategy to reach their prospective clients. Today with the emergence of social media tools: LinkedIn, Twitter, Face Book, Blogs/Articles, attending Events, Webinars and Seminars as a speaker etc lawyers are branding themselves and attracting clients through these platform. With the emergence of professional organisation like ABA, NYSBA, SRA, Law Society, IBA the approach and thinking of legal fraternity has changed with the continuous practical training and rigorous improvement policies. Now, everyday lawyers are coming up with a strong and more planned strategies with a clear thought which helps them to improve their working style and thus upholds betterment of our society and indirectly helps in keeping the trust of people in the state and country law.

Draft n Craft specializes in outsourcing of legal and paralegal services. We have provided more than a handful of advanced solutions to various Solo Attorneys, General Counsels, Law Firms (Small to Mid sized) in the U.K. and the U.S.A.; we take immense pleasure in serving all business needs, from the very basic legal undertakings to the most complex and farthest orientations. Contact Us

Task based billing: A way forward

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anuj Bansal) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 05:07:00 -0700

Are you a law firm looking for ways to drive out in-efficiency from your firm in order to be more competitive and profitable?

Do you as a firm find it difficult to measure the productivity of your firm?

Are you losing out on your fortune setting up the compliances and then ensuring that they have been adhered to by your employees?

If the answer to the above questions is yes then probably the time has come to look for the innovative ways in order to be the preferred choice of your clients in today’s competitive world. Though, innovation has no end and there can be umpteen numbers of things that a law firm can seriously consider to achieve the desired results. Today as always I would like to talk about outsourcing in this article.

Outsourcing in today’s time is synonymous with the curbing of local jobs in order to increase the profits of an organization. However, the only reason why it has been so successful is because of the model that it is based on rather than just the lucrative profits that come along with it. The model that I want to highlight over here is the concept of task based billing which means that now you pay once you get the desired output from your vendor.

It is no secret that the legal industry is going through drastic changes all across the world. This is bringing in tougher times for legal professionals especially in the US and the UK. The fact that the number of sole practitioner law firms have suffered the steepest fall since the financial crisis, as the lack of bank lending continues, tells the entire story. As a result, almost every law firm today is looking for ways to increase their efficiency more than ever. Usually the increase in efficiency means the increase in the productivity with no compromise on the quality of the work. This can be done by identifying the areas in which there’s scope of improvement and removing the wastage of time at every level.

Since, it’s the people who are doing work and are the moving force for any organisation, it becomes imperative that a firm ensures that it’s getting the optimum output from its resources and this is where task-based billing can just be a ‘rabbit out of hat” kind of a thing for the struggling law practitioners.

The best part over here is you’re paying for the final work that is being done and not for the time consumed for doing that work. Even if you hire a fixed resource from your vendor, usually the efficiency of that person is decided in the contract itself which again gives you an assurance for the amount of work that will be done for you no matter what. Also requirement for the supervision is at its minimum as there’s a sense of ownership among people for whatever has been assigned to them. And last but not the least, it leads to the promotion of entrepreneurship among people who are associated with the organisation and therefore can make vital contribution to the growth of the firm.

In the end, I would say that not only law firms but companies should look at this aspect very carefully as it is the way forward in the present scenario.

If you were not an attorney...

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Mohammad Danish, Business Development - Draft n Craft) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:00:00 -0700

Attorney, lawyer, solicitor, advocate, barrister or counsel - different names but same profession and similar personality traits as well. A person whose profession is to give legal advice and assistance to clients and represent them in court or in other legal matters. In different countries they are called by various names. Clients demonstrate full trust in them and reveal all of their ins and outs to make their case stronger. An attorney's tasks as a spokesperson of clients, a representative of the legal system, and a public citizen are usually melodious. On the other hand conflicting responsibilities are also often encountered when there is a clash between lawyer's responsibility to a client and the lawyer's own sense of personal honour, including responsibility to society and the legal profession.

"If there were no bad people there would be no good lawyers" [Charles Dickens The Old Curiosity Shop]

"I'm trusting in the Lord and a good lawyer" [Oliver North]

"I don't want a lawyer to tell me what I cannot do; I hire him to tell me how to do what I want to do" [J. Pierpoint Morgan]

"A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns" [Mario Puzo The Godfather]

Attorneys possess very unique characteristics and it’s really hard to relate them to an alternative profession. They are very task oriented and speak their mind and are often seen as the most argumentative personalities on the planet. Very high scorers on knowledge, they value education and take pleasure in academic activities. Attorneys are resistant to authority and sceptical of others. Wanting perfection in whatever they do, they normally become overly critical and tensed (excited) even on the misplacements of commas in a document. When it comes to lifestyle they prefer environments that are stylish, entertaining, and flexible.

It is very tough to think of a society where there are no attorneys because Law is the system of rules of conduct recognized by the government of a society to correct wrongs, uphold the solidity of political and social authority, and deliver justice. Attorneys are the ambassadors of the legal system of any country and are experts in the way their country’s rules and government operate. If there were no attorneys, I think, there would not be any law because they are the actual caretaker of a country’s law and order. A common man does not know much about the laws and in the absence of proper guidance laws might be violated. In other words every citizen need a representative not only to get him justice but in every phase of life.

After discussing this with many attorneys and even those who are not into profession I reached a conclusion that most of them could not think themselves beyond this line of work. I know most of the readers of this post would be attorneys and would really like to see their opinion if they ever thought of this. I am sure even those who complain about the profession never wish to think beyond law as the line of work.

About Draft n Craft

Draft n Craft: The Journey So Far..

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anjali Pahwa) — Thu, 9 Aug 2012 23:41:00 -0700

Over four years in to its existence, Draft n Craft has made its special place in this ever growing legal outsourcing industry. Starting out in the heart of the city of Delhi with a few people, Draft n Craft has grown 10 folds since 2008.

Draft n Craft team has always tried to share its knowledge and thoughts with the whole industry. We made our first attempt at this by hosting a seminar in London in June 2009, which was attended by some of the prestigious law firms in England & Wales. Since then, there has been no looking back. We have been and continue host numerous webcasts on different areas of interest ranging from service specific subjects like legal research, document review, contract outsourcing solutions and legal transcription to industry specific sessions.

Draft n Craft has continued to add value in to the legal outsourcing industry by representing itself at various domestic and international events.

Continuously trying to do something new and innovative, Draft n Craft, ensures a customized delivery model for each of its clients to suit their requirements. Infact in 2010, we came out with a new and unique delivery model called AptCaptive^®. A change welcomed by many who were considering outsourcing their legal and paralegal services but had their apprehensions towards it.

With advanced technology and superior team to produce quality results, the clients have been stress free in terms of the work being sent to them. Recently, our client, an attorney from Georgia, US said, “I have to tell you that the quality of the work is excellent and is coming back practically word perfect which makes my job a whole lot easier. Keep up the great work.!!”

Draft n Craft has always taken pride in each and every work that is carried out in the company. It has encouraged each department and has always valued the hard work and efforts put in by the teams.

About Draft n Craft

Established in 2008, Draft n Craft is a cut to the chase Legal Process Outsourcing Company with strong and dedicated work force of professionals. Having established a brilliant track record, Draft n Craft has been partners of growth to many of the law firms and corporations in the UK and US. Draft n Craft’s supreme focus has always been on helping lawyers deliver the best value to their clients by working on process and technology optimization, and by devising ways to rationalize client’s operational spending.

LPO - SOME WILL SOME WON’T: AN ATTORNEY’S DILEMMA

Mon, 6 Aug 2012 10:43:00 -0700

By the time I will post this blog I am sure the legal market will get few more post on this topic. However, being associated with a Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) company I could not stop myself to look for the prominent aspects and benefits of this industry. Outsourcing/Offshoring legal work was not a burning topic few years back but with the emergence of quality outsourcing companies, law firms/attorneys in US and UK are approving this concept and using the experience of global talents to enrich and add value to their core jobs. Countries like: India, Philippines, Ireland, South Africa, Mauritius, China and Brazil are proving to be effective players. Among them India being the second largest democracy with new age technology charting new grounds every moment, more than 200,000 fresh law graduate passing every year and 150 + LPO companies already providing their quality services, is leading the show. Now, when big law firms and general counsels are supporting outsourcing and find it cost effective, its time for the small and medium sized law firms and solo attorneys to look for ways to grow their reach and give their best to their clients. By sending low end jobs to the outsourcing/offshoring partner they are not only able to give more time to their core jobs but this also gives them freedom to use the credentials of their partner to add value and services to their current profiles. Below are the few points on legal process outsourcing industry specific to Indian market.

What is Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO)?

LPO refers to the service industry wherein legal and paralegal support services of the client’s firm or an individual is performed by the outsourcing party. Cost, resource and speed advantage are the levers responsible for the mushrooming of this phenomenon across the world. The common law system, huge pool of English educated attorneys, time zone advantage, quality, confidentiality and security are the factors supporting the growth of legal process outsourcing industry.

Three eminent aspects of an LPO transaction:

The Client: From where work comes. In other words, who gives work to execute.

The Provider/Vendor: The organization that provides the LPO services and processes the work according to needs of the clients.

The Project: The task/work which needs to be executed.

The services provided by the LPO industry ranges from preparation of pleadings, drafting of contracts, litigation support, legal transaction, IPR, proof reading, research and due diligence. The growth and development of the legal outsourcing/offshoring industry in India will help bringing a change in the way legal services are delivered in the west. This will also help in improving the economies of different countries.

LPO industry is mounting because of mutual benefits of clients and service providers. The increasing prominence of the LPO industry in the world today, is owing to the benefits listed below:

Cost Effectiveness: Outsourcing legal work to LPOs (India, Argentina, Philippines etc) results to a cost saving of 50-70% which facilitates an organization to gain efficiency and staying profitable in the competitive world of business. Outsourcing/Offshoring legal work is very cost effective for law firms/corporate in the UK and the USA.

Time Zone: The time difference and the availability of 24×7 support staff encourage outsourcing of legal work even more. By outsourcing research and paralegal tasks, the in-house counsel are able to concentrate on core legal issues. As law firm attorneys or in-house counsel in the West have their dinner, their assigned work is attended to and completed in India due to the time zone advantage.

Language: English being the language for education and business in world is an advantage. There can never be a communication gap as lawyers are well versed in English and all courts in India and many other countries function in English.

Eminence: The Indians are known for their intelligence and intellect. The same may be applied to Indian legal brains. Indian legal professionals have brilliant proficiency in working with the tools and systems in the outsourcing industry. Their writing skills and legal knowledge enhancement has resulted in making them an important pillar of the outsourcing operations.

Confidentiality: The most important factor in outsourcing legal services is the privacy of information of attorneys. The data outsourced by an attorney to an LPO is always privileged information. This information has to be protected so as to maintain the confidentiality of the client. At all levels, confidentiality is being maintained.

Variety of Services: An LPO provides variety of services to its clients. Law firms and Attorneys not only cut their costs but also get various services from one service provider. Law firms/Attorneys can broaden their areas of working by relying on the back office support of an LPO.

Resources: By outsourcing, the foreign law firm or the corporation frees its resources to concentrate on its core competencies thus increasing the client base and court appearances vis-a–vis the competitors.

Though this list above is not mutually exhaustive but is indicative of the main triggers of the industry and I would look for more points to share in my next post.

Draft n Craft specializes in outsourcing of legal and paralegal services. We have provided more than a handful of advanced solutions to various clients in the U.K. and the U.S.A.; we take immense pleasure in serving all business needs, from the very basic legal undertakings to the most complex and farthest orientations. Contact Us

Consumerism: A Demon for old-fashioned Law Firms

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anuj Bansal) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 07:00:00 -0700

“It has become expensive to practice law as cost of operating a law practice is becoming prohibitive.” “People or consumers have to learn that lawyers are not in law for the fun of it but are in it to make money.” “Clients can have all of the access for which they are willing to pay.”

The above are some examples of the comments which have been made by lawyers over the internet. Not only on the internet but you will find similar responses whenever lawyers are being asked about consumerism which is becoming incipient, slowly but gradually in legal profession as well.

The demon called consumerism has already started tormenting lawyers worldwide as it is quietly squeezing their profits and leaving them with no other option but to look for innovative ways in order to survive. The profession which was once termed as golden goose is experiencing a backward inertia which is refusing to accept this brutal reality. The rise in their expenses or an alteration in the value of money has only made things worse for them. It was actually the economic pressures which led to the industrial revolution in manufacturing industry and this time it is bound to take the legal profession by storm.

But as they say “With Challenge Comes Opportunity” and therefore the imprints of the transformation can already been seen as some of the law firms have realized it beforehand. They have by now started analyzing various models that can lead to the increase in the efficiency and productivity of their firm.

Though the process of transformation is still in progress, there are some solutions that are available for the legal fraternity at present. Outsourcing is one of them, which is not new to law firms as well. Whilst it is quite common for law firms to outsource their IT, accounts, administration departments to increase their efficiency, they are still to come to terms with legal outsourcing which is just an extension and nothing else. It’s just the division of the work carried out by the lawyers and paralegals in the legal department, analyzing the monotonous and repetitive work and then allocating it to the right vendor in order to increase the efficiency and the productivity of the firm.

And this is exactly why I think that outsourcing could be a viable option if implemented properly. I’m saying this not because of the hoopla which usually surrounds outsourcing, not because of some extraordinary facts that support this industry but just because of the principle it is based upon. Apparently, it is based on the same principle which was adopted in the times of industrial revolution which is “work specialization”.

Having said that, if someone needs to be on even terms with this change it has to be small law firms or sole practitioners but unfortunately they are the ones who are repulsing it. Such is the struggle that the number of sole practitioner firms fell from 4,056 in March 2010 to just 3,692 by March 2011. With ABS and other legal reform coming in, I do not see the situation getting any better from here. In the end, I just want to say that the time has come for law firms to embrace the change in order to survive.

I hope law practitioners realize the need to transform before getting engulfed in the quick sand which is spreading in the industry.

ABS - Alternative Business Structures or Additional Business Stress

draftncraftlpo@gmail.com (Anjali Pahwa) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 03:02:00 -0700

Introduction of ABS in the market has added stress and competition to the already recession affected legal industry. After the long long wait for the ground breaking change in to the legal industry, ABS finally made it through at the beginning of this year. Although the complete effects of ABS are yet to be seen and evaluated we cannot deny that a drastic change in the ways law firms operate on a structural and financial basis is undergoing turmoil. Some for the better and some for the worse. We need to accept this and make our way through this storm.

Whilst understanding the effects of ABS on law firms, we see that it undoubtedly affects the law firms dealing with high volume commoditisable private client work. That is to say that firms dealing with areas like personal injury, conveyancing, family law, wills etc. will be most affected.

The three key things which will immediately need attention would be price paid for a service, value added services and delivery of services. It becomes pertinent for law firms to look in to their business planning, study the market and add value to the services they are rendering. At the same time reducing the costs is significant or solicitors can sit back to see the clients drifting away and adding this service in to their shopping basket at a supermarket.

As the great Albert Einstein once said “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”, firms need to find the doors to a new path to sustain the winds of change faced by the UK legal industry. While many firms are either running to find a suitable partner to merge with or an external investor to pump in finances in to their firms or hire a non-lawyer to manage the show, one door which seems to be less used is the door to legal outsourcing.

Legal Outsourcing has been in this market for years now with only few key players realising the benefits of it and making use of it. Of course if we see the graph of the last twenty years, we observe the changes and bend towards outsourcing increasing but the growth has been slow in the UK as compared to the United States. Today a considerable number of law firms are outsourcing to offshore vendors to save time and costs. And these law firms range from solo practitioners to the big players in the industry.

Services of high volume, tedious in nature and to a big extent repetitive in terms of a set format, as we see majorly in the case of conveyancing is an apt service to outsource in order to save time and incur big savings in costs. Solicitors can use that extra time in hand to give value added services to their clients and concentrate more on business planning and retaining clients.

The demand of hour is to make optimum utilisation of resources in order to reduce this additional business stress. It is time to accept the changes and move on towards finding the best way to deal with it. The decision to move from the conventional ways of practice will open new doors which will bring in a plethora of opportunities.